Browse the obituary of residing in the province of province1} for funeral details
Eva Linitski Obituary
Eva Linitski (nee Kiraly) was born on the family farm 6 miles NE of Wakaw, Saskatchewan. She passed away at 101 years of age on Monday, March 24, 2025 at St. Mike’s Palliative Care, Lethbridge, AB.
Eva was predeceased by husband Stan(ley) (1999), son Terry (Terence Shane) (2007) after a tragic motorcycle accident; parents John and Elizabeth (Rehovich) Kiraly and siblings Mary Gurico (1997), Anne Hegedus (2020), John Kiraly (2020), Yolanda Sukut (2014), Margaret Hanson (2000), Albert Kiraly (2008), Edward Kiraly (2022), as well as infant brothers Albert (3 weeks of age) and Steven (two months).
She is survived by: daughters Sharon Linitski (Kamloops, BC) and Lori (Dolores) Tanabe (Picture Butte, AB); grandchildren Jesse Tanabe (Lethbridge), Jenny (Jamie) Pearen (Calgary), Tiffany Tanabe (Jorge) expecting 3rd great grandchild (Vancouver), Grace Linitski (Lethbridge), Niko Linitski (Lethbridge) and their parents, Yoshi Tanabe (Vancouver), Melinda Linitski (Gurr) (Lethbridge); great granddaughters Nola and Hana Pearen; sisters Evelyn Macki (96 years) (Wakaw, SK) and Vilma Sukut (94 years) (Saskatoon, SK) as well as numerous nieces and nephews from both the Kiraly and Linitski sides of the family.
Eva’s parents immigrated to Canada from Hungary as children around 1900. She was the 2nd of 10 siblings who remained closely connected thru life.
Hungarian was spoken at home and her mother taught the older children to read and write in Hungarian. Their formal education was in the one room schoolhouse, a 2 ½ mile walk from their home. In winter their father drove them in the caboose – a horse drawn enclosed wagon with a small wooden stove for warmth. Eva liked school and was very good at math and English. She also spoke Ukranian. Due to unfortunate circumstances she left school in 8th grade. She helped her father with the farm financial records and had beautiful descriptive flow in her letter writing.
When Eva was very young the family home was destroyed by fire. A two room log house with a sod roof was quickly built before winter set in and two bedrooms were added later as more children arrived . After bumper crops for many years Eva remembered her father taking her to the grain fields to show her the short heads of wheat and the dry cracked earth – the ‘Dirty 30’s’. The younger children cried when Dad’s shiny, new farm machinery was driven away, repossessed. Luckier than many, the farm was still theirs.
The farm life itself was hard work and when children finished school the expectation was to work and send money to help at home. Eva worked locally at child care, home and farm help and at the old Wakaw Hospital at the lake. Her first full time job was clerking at the Red & White store. It was during WWII and she recalled scraping sugar off the cones and accepting war ration cards for payment. She lived with her paternal grandfather in Wakaw. She made $40 a month and sent $20 home.
In her late teens Eva and sister Anne moved to Raymond, AB, to join older sister Mary, who needed help with her children. Eva got a job at the Raymond Cafe (“Gees”) where she eventually met Stan Linitski, her future husband. When Mary’s family moved, Eva and Anne went to Warner, AB for work, where Stan continued ‘courting’ her. He would borrow the priest’s car or take the bus and once hitch-hiked to visit. The family teased them both. Eva even kept a Valentines card all these 80 plus years.
The couple married in Raymond at Stan’s family home on March 2, 1946. They rented two rooms in the Lavoie house. Eva became a stay-at-home housewife as was common at the time. Returning from a visit to her parents in 1948, Eva found that Stan and his brothers had started building their own home. All worked to get it habitable prior to their first child’s birth (Sharon) in December 1948. Daughter Lori came in August 1954.
Eva was devoted to family life, always putting husband and children first. She utilized her inherent sense of color and design in doing the interior paint work and sewing beautiful custom draperies for their new house. She also created beautiful dresses for herself and her two daughters. She had a large garden for vegetables and berries (which she preserved) and enjoyed creating flower beds.
When the Raymond Sugar Factory closed, Stan was transferred to Picture Butte. The couple then hired contractors to build their second new house!! Eva did much of the design planning and colour decisions and then development of a new garden area and flower beds. In June 1969 they welcomed son Terry (Terence Shane) to the family and Eva had the new experience of raising a boy! This meant working through more modern school issues, driving to sports events and eventually babysitting pitt bulls while Terry was working out of town. After Terry left home, Lori and 3 grandchildren (Jesse, Jenny & Tiffany) moved home so Eva and Stan were back to helping with children. They went to many sporting events!
After Stan retired the couple were able to travel (with Sharon as chauffeur) to: Yellowstone Park, across Canada to Niagra Falls and Ottawa (with the fall colours along the way) and Vancouver Island with a BC Ferries ride to Prince Rupert and on to Kitimat.
After 53 years of marriage Stan passed away in 1999. It was then that Eva and Sharon started visiting Vancouver Island almost every year until her early nineties. Eva really enjoyed the travel and loved walking on the beaches and collecting shells. Eva and Lori also visited her sisters in Saskatchewan and went to Waterton Lakes National Park up until two years ago.
Eva had lived a quiet, simple and what today is called a frugal life. Her riches were her family – husband, children, home. She put these before self. There were children ‘growing’ in her home for almost 50 years. She lived a present and daily life moving forward and accepting the changes as they came. She went from a log and sod roofed parental home to two brand new family homes. From walking 2 1/2 miles to school and going to town with horse and wagon to yearly trips to British Columbia or Saskatchewan and a first air plane flight. From heating a house with wood and coal, oil and finally natural gas, electricity and air conditioning. From outdoor biffies and hauling water by hand or tractor to all the ‘modern’ conveniences including talking on Skype like a professional. She appreciated sixty years of great, special friends and neighbours since 1964, and even praised them last year to a nurse at the hospital when people thought she could even remember.
She knew more, and was more, then she ever let on (mentally and physically) because at 101 could still walk up stairs easily and grin with the best of them.
Daughter Lori provided ongoing and incredible care that enabled Eva to live in her own home until a week before her passing at palliative care. Many thanks to the doctors and medical staff in Picture Butte and Lethbridge, the Home Care Aides and emergency personnel that took care of Mom so well, thank you. Any donations may be directed to the Picture Butte Ambulance.
A private family burial is planned for April 11, 2025 at Mountain View Cemetery, Lethbridge, AB. There will be a memorial gathering at a later date.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Eva Linitski, please visit our floral store.
Read More
January 19 1924 March 24 2025 101 Years Old
Death notice for the town of: Lethbridge, Province: Alberta
death notice Eva Linitski January 19 1924 March 24 2025 101 Years Old
obituaries notice Eva Linitski January 19 1924 March 24 2025 101 Years Old
We offer our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Eva Linitski January 19 1924 March 24 2025 101 Years Old and hope that their memory may be a source of comfort during this difficult time. Your thoughts and kind words are greatly appreciated.
